Your purchase price should maybe be +/- $2000 from the appraisal price, but typically you should pay the appraisal value.Everything should be in-house - rehab work, management, etc - a turnkey company shouldn't be making you sign a contract for a third party management company because then they aren't really accountable to you long-term, the PM is.Beware of scarcity or scare tactics in sales.

Rental rates are through the roof right now, so a buy and hold on this type of property is a rather sound strategy... even if using a third party management company. 

I've been wondering the same thing myself a lot lately but the nice part is that if you can keep that low, you can pull your money out for another property!

I wonder though if anyone has any advice on how to get into rental properties and make it fair for all parties involved. 

Last thing I want is to get a duplex only to realize it's only legal to have a SFH in there.

Notify both parties, the less money supplied by bankers or mortgage institute or even private lenders make selling a property more challenging than before.

This would indicate 2 contracts between these two parties.

This is not legal advice:They'd contact you to negotiate a settlement if they plan on closing.

That $1000 could either be refunded to us or credited on the next tax bill which we chose to do the credit. about a month later the lawyer who completed our transaction sends us an email saying the sellers lawyer knows that we ended up getting a tax credit and that it is owed to the sellers, and that they would take legal action if we didn't refund it. basically my question is how does this usually work out, are they entitled only to a prorated amount of it, are they even entitled to any of it?

You may have to get creative...find a duplex in a good area and Airbnb the units or find an SFR with a legal accessory dwelling unit and live in the smaller unit while renting out the main etc.